World’s X-ray facilities team up to battle COVID-19

Leaders from the world’s best X-ray facilities, including Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source, have developed a strategy for cooperatively combating

COVID-

19


.

The best and brightest X-ray science facilities in the world are working together to help in the fight against the

COVID-

19


pandemic. Numbered among them is the Advanced Photon Source (

APS

), a U.S. Department of Energy (

DOE

) Office of Science User Facility at

DOE

‘s Argonne National Laboratory.

In April, leadership of the world’s X-ray science facilities, including

APS

Director Stephen Streiffer, convened for a virtual summit. Below is the action plan developed at this summit, outlining how these facilities will work together to share information about

COVID-

19


. The

APS

continues to welcome research groups working to learn more about the virus that causes

COVID-

19


and lay the groundwork for treatments and vaccines.

”


COVID-

19


affects all of us, and I’m proud to be working with our international colleagues as we pool our resources to combat this pandemic,” Streiffer said.

Read more on Argonne’s work to fight the coronavirus



.

The

COVID-

19


pandemic is, more than ever, uniting scientists and the X-ray Science Facilities worldwide, in their sorrow for the loss of life and the suffering the virus has caused for the people around the world. They also express heartfelt admiration and lasting gratitude to all front-line health workers for their tireless dedication to treating the people impacted by the pandemic.

The international network of X-ray Science Facilities, composed of the X-ray Synchrotron Radiation and X-ray Free Electron Laser Facilities, is deeply engaged with overcoming the pandemic. The X-ray Science Facilities’ role is to create and implement scientific and technological research activities to effectively study, understand and contribute solutions to the

COVID-

19


pandemic, including new drugs, therapeutic strategies and medical equipment developments.

This engagement has already started worldwide, and many X-ray Science Facilities are carrying out research focused on the SARS-CoV-

2

virus, and making available their instruments with rapid access and remote channels to scientists desiring to address specific

COVID-

19


research topics.

The X-ray Science Facilities gathered to align intents and strategies on

”

development of alliances between universities, industry and facilities


”


at their first

SR

9


Summit, which was held in Sendai, Japan in April

2019

.

The X-ray Science Facilities, with the intent to further coordinate and strengthen their support of scientific research and solutions to the

COVID-

19


pandemic, assembled for a remote access video

SR

20


Summit


April

23

–

24

. They shared their experience on facility activities in the recent weeks, and decided to develop a cooperative strategy across all facilities worldwide to work jointly to overcome the pandemic.

The X-ray Science Facilities adopted the following action plan:

1. Share information and contribute to the coordination of efforts across all X-ray Science Facilities on scientific research addressing the
   
   COVID-
   
   19
   
   
   pandemic
2. Explore the establishment of a worldwide X-ray Science Facilities network including university and industrial users for a comprehensive mobilization of facilities
3. Study the development of a shared
   
   IT
   
   system to accelerate the process of information distribution, favor global cooperation among facilities and enable the most rapid and effective access for scientific projects across facilities
4. Exchange experience on remote access and sample mail-in procedures by the user community to maintain and strengthen experimental activities without user travel
5. Coordinate efforts of the X-ray Science Facilities with those of other analytical facilities as, for example, those using neutrons, cryo-electron-microscopy, lasers and nuclear magnetic resonance

###

Delegates:

Prof. Dr. Hideo Ohno, President,

TOHOKU

University

Dr. Chi-Chang Kao, Director,

SLAC

National Accelerator Laboratory

Prof. Paul McIntyre, Director,

SSRL

Prof. Michael Dunne, Director,

LCLS

Dr. Stephen Streiffer, Director, Advanced Photon Source

Dr. Stephen Kevan, Director, Advanced Light Source

Dr. John Hill, Director, NSLS-Il

Prof. Joel Brock, Director,

CHESS

Prof. Andrew Peele, Director,

ANSTO

Australian Synchrotron

Dr. Gwo-Hui Luo, Director,

NSRRC

Dr. Tetsuya Tshikawa, Director,

RIKEN

SPring-

8

Center

Dr. Tn Soo Ko, Director, Pohang Accelerator Laboratory

Dr. Francesco Sette, Director General,

ESRF

Prof. Edgar Weckert, Research Director,

DESY

Prof. Robert Feidenhans’l, Managing Director, European

XFEL

Dr. Jean Daillant, Director, Soleil Laboratory

Dr. Andrew Harrison,

CEO

, Diamond Light Source Limited

Dr. Caterina Biscari, Director,

ALBA

Prof. Gabriel Aeppli, Head Photon Science Division, Paul Scherrer Institut,

ETH

and

EPFL

Dr. Ian McNulty, Director, Max

IV

Prof. Jan Lüning, Scientific Director,

BESSY


II

, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin

Dr. Claudio Masciovecchio, Director

FERMI

Free Electron Laser

About the Advanced Photon Source

The U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (

APS

) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the world’s most productive X-ray light source facilities. The

APS

provides high-brightness X-ray beams to a diverse community of researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, the life and environmental sciences, and applied research. These X-rays are ideally suited for explorations of materials and biological structures; elemental distribution; chemical, magnetic, electronic states; and a wide range of technologically important engineering systems from batteries to fuel injector sprays, all of which are the foundations of our nation’s economic, technological, and physical well-being. Each year, more than

5

,

000

researchers use the

APS

to produce over

2

,

000

publications detailing impactful discoveries, and solve more vital biological protein structures than users of any other X-ray light source research facility.

APS

scientists and engineers innovate technology that is at the heart of advancing accelerator and light-source operations. This includes the insertion devices that produce extreme-brightness X-rays prized by researchers, lenses that focus the X-rays down to a few nanometers, instrumentation that maximizes the way the X-rays interact with samples being studied, and software that gathers and manages the massive quantity of data resulting from discovery research at the

APS

.

This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S.

DOE

Office of Science User Facility operated for the

DOE

Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No.

DE-AC

02

–

06

CH

11357


.

Argonne National Laboratory

seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than

60

nations, Argonne is managed by

UChicago Argonne,

LLC


for the

U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science

.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science

is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit

https:/

/

energy.

gov/

science

.